A Thifty Gourmet Roadtrip: LA’s Korean Wonder Food

They’ve been blogged, written, and twittered about all over the place, and, before I took a recent trip to LA, the six food-loving friends that I emailed for eating advice all suggested that I try them. So, on a very cool evening after a very hot day, I headed to the Alibi Room in Culver City, CA to check out the hoopla. Before I divulge the antecedent, it should be noted that the Alibi Room is a pretty great bar. After mediocre experiences at the posh Sky Bar, hipster Brite Spot, and the overrun-with-men-and-women-who-had-gone-under-the-knife-one-too-many-times The Otheroom, I was happy to go to a place that was well-designed, nicely-sized, and filled with normal folks looking for a spot to enjoy a drink with friends.

I moseyed up to the dark wood bar. Attractive twenty- and thirty-somethings crowded around the dimly lit space, and biodegradable paper containers — filled with the hype that I was myself about to order — littered the countertop. I picked up a menu and read its contents.

Delicious cocktails? Check.

Affordable beer and wine options? Check.

Korean-influenced Mexican fare? One big fat Check.

Kogi: Korean BBQ-To-Go, the company behind this masterful marriage of East-West cuisines, first became famous with its taco trucks out of which it sells this delicious street food. The owners also came up with a very web 2.0 gimmick: Twitter the location of the truck. It quickly became a sensation.

Because of it’s unbelievable popularity (long-lines are common and Kogi has over 18,000 followers on Twitter), a second Kogi truck now graces the streets of LA, and at night the company takes over the kitchen at the Alibi Room; since I generally like beer with my kimchi, that’s where I decided to order them. The menu offered three Korean tacos for seven bucks. One spicy pork. One short rib. One BBQ chicken. Each variation had its distinct flavor — sesame oil, spicy and vinegary-chili sauce, the umami yumminess of slow cooked meat — and came with a cabbage slaw and cilantro topping that was illegally good.

For five days, I had been pestering my brother, who I was visiting and staying with, about finding these tacos. For five days he put it off. But now that we were at the bar with our beers and our overflowing tortillas that dripped with meat juices and hot sauce, he was happy. “You’re right, these are freaking delicious. I’m bringing my friends here,” he said. We finished our meal with a basket of salty and spicy Korean-seasoned fries that were accompanied by a trio of hot sauce, catsup, and mayonnaise. Pure genius.

For under $35 we left the bar with our stomachs filled with just the right amount of food and drink — a deal that no LA visitor can afford to miss.

(Recent news for New Yorkers: rumor has it that Kogi might come here soon, too.)

By Erin Patinkin on May 1, 2009 | 0